Ubiquitous Gaming

TURNING UP THE JOURNALISM DIAL TO 11!

Friday, May 4, 2012

Will the PC version include the DLC (地獄）or will you sell that
separately?

Because of WiiWare's size restriction, DLC is the only way
we can release the Hell Temple. However we can use limitless bytes on PC, if we
want. Although we can not say yet about details, we will publish the
information at the official site in the near future.Please wait and see.

Will La-Mulana be PC only, no Mac, no iPhone
or Android?

Personally, I'm old Macintosh user, but programmers have not
been developed on Mac. Than porting the same product over time also for the Mac
is better to ask for porting to someone who is familiar with the Mac would be
realistic. About iPhone and Android, I think the game was made based on the
assumption that play in the gamepad can be ported to the touch device is not
easy.

Who will do the translation or localization of
the PC version, and what languages and countries will La-Mulana (PC) be available
in?

We are currently looking for cooperators or companies can be
translated in Japan. Anyway, we were only prepared Japanese and English. The
original LA-MULANA was made only the Japanese version. Because volunteers
translated it into English, LA-MULANA has spread to the world. Because we come
back to PC games, we will cooperate actively if there are volunteers want to
translate into another language as in the past.

We asked cooperators to translate Japanese text into English
according to the new PC version. Will not take much time so that a professional
in charge of its work.

Do you want to publish future games with
Nicalis?

I think it is difficult to be active in the consumer market
for indie game makers, such as our small. Since Nicalis has been also active in
the consumer market, I think they will become one of the candidates of the
publisher in the case we make a new consumer games in the future. However, I
think we are the awkward developer for the publishers since we have a policy to
make the game we want...

Will La-Mulana sell on Steam or another
distributor?

It is not decided yet. Of course, we want to sell on Steam.
I hope we get good offer from Steam... I have trouble in the situation we can
not manage the release date, although we want also released abroad anyway.

We are looking for a reliable company that can solve the
problem, it always gives us a detailed answer if we contact. For WiiWare
version, we had a hard time in collaboration with overseas. We have contacted
the company that can communicate quick, can have a meeting if we need, have
good cooperation with the overseas. I think that I can tell as soon as
determined.

How many people work at Nigoro
now?

NIGORO as a game development team is composed of three
people from the past.

How many people work at
Asterizm?

Asterizm is composed of five people, including us. In
addition to us, we ask the people playing the our game from the past to debug.
And we are is familiar with Mr. Amaya developed Cave Story. We want to be
friends with the more Japanese indie game developers.

Are you developing or considering a game for
3DS/eShop or Vita/PSN?

I want to do, if possible, it is very difficult a game
development team of three people make the consumer games. I should be very
grateful if there is a publisher say "We want port NIGORO's games to the
consumers and publish them!"

What other games are you working
on?

Since we had intended to devote sales of La-Mulana English
ver. for Wii to developing the next game, we are currently not develop
anything. However, we have continued to prepare for when the time comes.

On a lighter note, what fun Japanese indie
games have you played recently?

I played "Maou monogatari monogatari" and
"Meikyujou Hydra". And I played "Cave Story" thoroughly for
the event that I participated in Japan. There are also other interesting indie games
in Japan, I'm sorry I don't have the time I play them.These unnoticed
masterpieces need to be introduced to overseas so that Japanese Indie game
scene flourish more. A fan event named "Doukutsu monogatari no
Uragawa" (it means "The inside of Cave Story"). I've appeared
with Mr. Amaya.

I am very surprised at this situation in a few days from now
to post a new article to the official website of the LA-MULANA.

Was there an agreement to publish in NOA and
NOE by a certain deadline?

I think the deadline was not fixed in particular.

We have an agreement that we submit the game when it is
finished. I say later, LA-MULANA had a lot check of Nintendo several times,
when it is pointed out the problems of the game, we passed the Nicalis the
fixed master data by about few weeks each time.

Was it your duty to fix the game for
distribution in US and EU markets?

Fixing the game was in our charge, and we have left Nicalis
to submit the game to NOA and NOE. We have a contract with Nintendo Japan, and
Nicalis have contracts with NOA and NOE. Therefore, we have no way to check the
progress of LA-MULANA English version for WiiWare directly.

Did anyone neglect their duties as developer
or publisher?

We have responded quickly and in good faith while we are
puzzled that the matters pointed out received through the lot check of NOA /
NOE is different from Nintendo Japan. I believe Nicalis had sense of
responsibility as a publisher in good faith, too. Unfortunately we wanted to
release DLC, but we were supposed to be canceled DLC because of a number of
factors and Nicalis's request. If there are a person who has neglected their
duties, they are us. We are sorry that the information was not able to publish anything
for several months, because of a variety of contract and the circumstances of
Nicalis.

It has happened to this situation, we had should have talked
to fans about all sooner. In this regard we want to apologize obediently. We
must keep a NDA with NINTENDO and Nicalis, naturally, we could not speak talk
details even if you want to talk. But they are in the convenience of our
company, and they are not related to the fan. Then, we want to publish any
information.

Fans seem really excited about PC
release!

In order for us to succeed as a indie game developer the
future, overseas sales is essential. In recent years downLoad contents and
indie games has become to attract attention in Japan, the population of Japan
is much less than in North America firstly. Also it sold a indie game in Japan,
to acquire the sales equivalent to the development fund is very hard.

Indie game developers continue to work in Japan without also
considering overseas sales is difficult. In order for us to distribute the
games to gamers overseas from now on, we want gamer overseas to know details of
indie game scene in Japan.

We must open up the export market Japanese indie games will
be accepted.

The digital distribution only game is not sold out because
it is a different from physical packaged. Therefore, it can be expected to sell
to a long period of time. So we thought LA-MULANA must be exciting and perfect,
we was encouraging the production without considering our profit. In order to
think of you with high reputation and good game forever. I think that to get
much sales can make a fund for the next games, sales in Japan only are not
enough absolutely for it. We did our best in a situation we didn't get income.
Unfortunately, the incident had happened like this, we hope you to judge by
whether LA-MULANA is exciting or not rather than to judge Wii or Nicalis and
NIGORO. So, we have been developing the final part of the PC version with all
our might. Nothing stop us anymore.

In conclusion, let me add a few words. If there is no offer
from Nicalis, we did not remake the LA-MULANA. We are grateful to Nicalis even
now. Before offer from Nicalis came, we did not even know how to enter the
consumer world. Because we have spent a lot of time in the making of the original
LA-MULANA, We did not intend to remake it as first consumer game.

Will the PC version include the DLC (地獄）or will you sell that
separately?

Because of WiiWare's size restriction, DLC is the only way
we can release the Hell Temple. However we can use limitless bytes on PC, if we
want. Although we can not say yet about details, we will publish the
information at the official site in the near future.Please wait and see.

Will La-Mulana be PC only, no Mac, no iPhone
or Android?

Personally, I'm old Macintosh user, but programmers have not
been developed on Mac. Than porting the same product over time also for the Mac
is better to ask for porting to someone who is familiar with the Mac would be
realistic. About iPhone and Android, I think the game was made based on the
assumption that play in the gamepad can be ported to the touch device is not
easy.

Who will do the translation or localization of
the PC version, and what languages and countries will La-Mulana (PC) be
available in?

We are currently looking for cooperators or companies can be
translated in Japan. Anyway, we were only prepared Japanese and English. The
original LA-MULANA was made only the Japanese version. Because volunteers
translated it into English, LA-MULANA has spread to the world. Because we come
back to PC games, we will cooperate actively if there are volunteers want to
translate into another language as in the past.

We asked cooperators to translate Japanese text into English
according to the new PC version. Will not take much time so that a professional
in charge of its work.

Do you want to publish future games with
Nicalis?

I think it is difficult to be active in the consumer market
for indie game makers, such as our small. Since Nicalis has been also active in
the consumer market, I think they will become one of the candidates of the
publisher in the case we make a new consumer games in the future. However, I
think we are the awkward developer for the publishers since we have a policy to
make the game we want...

Will La-Mulana sell on Steam or another
distributor?

It is not decided yet. Of course, we want to sell on Steam.
I hope we get good offer from Steam... I have trouble in the situation we can
not manage the release date, although we want also released abroad anyway.

We are looking for a reliable company that can solve the
problem, it always gives us a detailed answer if we contact. For WiiWare
version, we had a hard time in collaboration with overseas. We have contacted
the company that can communicate quick, can have a meeting if we need, have
good cooperation with the overseas. I think that I can tell as soon as
determined.

How many people work at Nigoro
now?

NIGORO as a game development team is composed of three
people from the past.

How many people work at
Asterizm?

Asterizm is composed of five people, including us. In
addition to us, we ask the people playing the our game from the past to debug.
And we are is familiar with Mr. Amaya developed Cave Story. We want to be
friends with the more Japanese indie game developers.

Are you developing or considering a game for
3DS/eShop or Vita/PSN?

I want to do, if possible, it is very difficult a game
development team of three people make the consumer games. I should be very
grateful if there is a publisher say "We want port NIGORO's games to the
consumers and publish them!"

What other games are you working
on?

Since we had intended to devote sales of La-Mulana English
ver. for Wii to developing the next game, we are currently not develop anything.
However, we have continued to prepare for when the time comes.

On a lighter note, what fun Japanese indie
games have you played recently?

I played "Maou monogatari monogatari" and
"Meikyujou Hydra". And I played "Cave Story" thoroughly for
the event that I participated in Japan. There are also other interesting indie
games in Japan, I'm sorry I don't have the time I play them.These unnoticed
masterpieces need to be introduced to overseas so that Japanese Indie game
scene flourish more. A fan event named "Doukutsu monogatari no
Uragawa" (it means "The inside of Cave Story"). I've appeared
with Mr. Amaya.

I am very surprised at this situation in a few days from now
to post a new article to the official website of the LA-MULANA.

Was there an agreement to publish in NOA and
NOE by a certain deadline?

I think the deadline was not fixed in particular.

We have an agreement that we submit the game when it is
finished. I say later, LA-MULANA had a lot check of Nintendo several times,
when it is pointed out the problems of the game, we passed the Nicalis the
fixed master data by about few weeks each time.

Was it your duty to fix the game for
distribution in US and EU markets?

Fixing the game was in our charge, and we have left Nicalis
to submit the game to NOA and NOE. We have a contract with Nintendo Japan, and
Nicalis have contracts with NOA and NOE. Therefore, we have no way to check the
progress of LA-MULANA English version for WiiWare directly.

Did anyone neglect their duties as developer
or publisher?

We have responded quickly and in good faith while we are
puzzled that the matters pointed out received through the lot check of NOA /
NOE is different from Nintendo Japan. I believe Nicalis had sense of
responsibility as a publisher in good faith, too. Unfortunately we wanted to
release DLC, but we were supposed to be canceled DLC because of a number of
factors and Nicalis's request. If there are a person who has neglected their
duties, they are us. We are sorry that the information was not able to publish
anything for several months, because of a variety of contract and the
circumstances of Nicalis.

It has happened to this situation, we had should have talked
to fans about all sooner. In this regard we want to apologize obediently. We
must keep a NDA with NINTENDO and Nicalis, naturally, we could not speak talk
details even if you want to talk. But they are in the convenience of our
company, and they are not related to the fan. Then, we want to publish any
information.

Fans seem really excited about PC
release!

In order for us to succeed as a indie game developer the
future, overseas sales is essential. In recent years downLoad contents and
indie games has become to attract attention in Japan, the population of Japan
is much less than in North America firstly. Also it sold a indie game in Japan,
to acquire the sales equivalent to the development fund is very hard.

Indie game developers continue to work in Japan without also
considering overseas sales is difficult. In order for us to distribute the
games to gamers overseas from now on, we want gamer overseas to know details of
indie game scene in Japan.

We must open up the export market Japanese indie games will
be accepted.

The digital distribution only game is not sold out because
it is a different from physical packaged. Therefore, it can be expected to sell
to a long period of time. So we thought LA-MULANA must be exciting and perfect,
we was encouraging the production without considering our profit. In order to
think of you with high reputation and good game forever. I think that to get
much sales can make a fund for the next games, sales in Japan only are not
enough absolutely for it. We did our best in a situation we didn't get income.
Unfortunately, the incident had happened like this, we hope you to judge by
whether LA-MULANA is exciting or not rather than to judge Wii or Nicalis and
NIGORO. So, we have been developing the final part of the PC version with all
our might. Nothing stop us anymore.

In conclusion, let me add a few words. If there is no offer
from Nicalis, we did not remake the LA-MULANA. We are grateful to Nicalis even
now. Before offer from Nicalis came, we did not even know how to enter the
consumer world. Because we have spent a lot of time in the making of the
original LA-MULANA, We did not intend to remake it as first consumer game.

Friday, April 9, 2010

Thanks to gracious Aksys, USA gamers will get to play Deathsmiles soon! However, XBOX360 users in Japan will be getting the sequel on May 27. Check out the HOT game play footage at Siliconera. And yes, Siliconera writers are just as keen in noticing quality tipsters as they are in reporting on quality games!